Lack of Transparency or Public Engagement by Yet Another BC "Deer Committee."

To the Elkford Wildlife Committee

Posted: December 23, 2013 Letter to the Editor

I am sad to see the deer cull in the District of Elkford this January 6. I am writing this to say I am extremely disappointed in the way it has come about, as I was a member of the Wildlife Committee this year.

When I joined the committee the deer cull was already planned and approved by the district office and council. The existence of the committee is a mere window dressing. It purported to provide community involvement but this was not true.

I am left with the belief and am extremely disappointed that the committee was one-sided, created to support decisions that were already made. The committee, district council and offices were not open to other viewpoints, ignored other viewpoints and limited public response. I believe that once my opinion was established as being opposite to what the committee was created to prove, my opinions were unwelcome.

For example, I voiced an unwanted opinion about the deer count declining over the past three years from 120 to 70 and the option of doing a hazing in the spring, after the deer had fawned. (This was successfully done in Kimberley.) After that I was not notified of meeting dates or the so called public meeting about the cull and had a hard time getting copies of the minutes which were not complete or at all informative of what actually transpired at the meeting.

The above explains the reasons for my resignation from the committee.

Some good may come for the not-yet-shot wildlife in our community. There is a bylaw that may protect some of the remaining wildlife in the district. I ask you to support this bylaw and put pressure on those expected to see it is enforced – not treated with the disrespect of the democratic procedure that has allowed killing 40 out of the remaining 70 animals in the district.

There are some familiar faces I will mourn when I no longer see them in my neighbourhood on my daily walk with my dog.

Robert MacKenzie, Elkford, Wild At Heart, Wilderness Capital of B.C.